Promise not to raise taxes 'is not enough' - Muscat

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat insisted today that it was not enough for the governemnt to say it would not raise taxes in the forthcoming budget.

Reacting to comments given yesterday by the Prime Minister, Dr Muscat said at the opening of the GWU national conference this morning that the economy needed incentives to grow. Employers needed assistance to retain and increase their workers and the workers needed to be assisted to make ends meet.

His comments were greeted with a standing ovation by the delegates, but Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi made no direct reference to the Budget when he spoke a few minutes later.

He insisted, however, that one should not act like there was no international economic crisis. The government's priority was to save jobs and make the economy competitive, he said. While there were signs that the international situation could be improving, much still had to be done, and he was urging the trade unions to work with the government in the country's best interests.

Dr Gonzi spoke on how the government had saved thousands of jobs through its direct assistance to various companies over the past few months and he thanked the trade unions for working in silence with the government for those jobs to be saved.

The conference was opened by GWU President Victor Carachi who in his speech welcomed the Piano project for Valletta, saying such capital projects helped the economic wheel to turn.